Double walled tubular assemblage for cooling elongate material



Dec. 30, 1969 H. E. MOBIUS 3,486,554

DOUBLE WALLED TUBULAR ASSEMBLAGE FOR COOLING ELONGATE MATERIAL FiledJune 17, 1968 Inventor: bzw: 555mm may:

United States Patent 1 Int. Cl. F2411 3/00; B05b 3/08; F281) 9/02 US.Cl. 165-47 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A double walled tubularassemblage for cooling hot wire including coaxial inner and outer tubeswith a a coolant under pressure being introduced into the space betweenthe tubes and a wire to be cooled is passed forwardly through the innertube. The inner tube is provided with nozzles which point in a forwarddirection and are angularly and longitudinally spaced with respect tothe axis of the inner tube. A plurality of coaxial funnels are mountedwithin the inner tube and an aperture in each funnel is located around anozzle whereby the coolant can be ejected under pressure through thenozzles to pass forwardly through the apertures for impinging upon allsides of the Wire.

The present invention relates to an improved double walled tubularassemblage for cooling elongate material such as hot wire. While theinvention is particularly useful for cooling rolled material such asrolled wire, rod, or tube, it is of course of broader application.

When roller material such as wire is subjected to subsequent treatmentor treatments, the structure of the material is important such as forexample, the rate of cooling of the rolled wire between the last rollingstage and the final reeling stage has a considerable influence on scaleformation. Both the thickness and composition of the scale is afilectedand the structure of the rolled material per se is also influenced bythe cooling.

One known apparatus employed for cooling wire or other cross sections,after the final rolling stage, includes a double walled water coolingtube with the inner wall thereof being provided with a plurality ofholes through which water passes onto the material to be cooled. Thematerial may be passed through several such tubes for improving thecooling effect.

One disadvantage of the above discussed apparatus is that the apparatuscannot be utilized for giving an effective cooling of thicker materialsuch as for example wire having a diameter of from to mm. Moreover,during the use of such apparatus, the wire has a tendency to bearagainst the holes on the lower side of the inner tube therebyobstructing the passage of water. Hence, the wire is cooled more on theupper side than on the lower side which means that the wire bends and isthus difilcult to guide properly through the cooling tube.

It should further be mentioned that the impact or dynamic pressure ofthe water impinging upon the material is also of importance and toproduce a high dynamic pressure where many holes are employed isdisadvantageous in that it necessitates a pump of large capacity.

A salient object of the present invention is to provide a cooling tubeassemblage which prevents or at least reduces the above mentioneddisadvantages.

To accomplish the above mentioned object, the present inventioncomprises a tubular assemblage for cooling elongate material such as hotwire by passing a wire in a forward direction axially through theassemblage, with such assemblage including coaxial inner and outertubes, means for passing a coolant under pressure into the space betweenthe tubes, nozzles sealed in the inner tube Which point forwardly andare spaced angularly and longitudinally with respect to the axis, aplurality of coaxial funnels mounted within the inner tube and anaperture in each funner located around a nozzle so that the coolant canbe ejected under pressure through the nozzles to pass forwardly throughthe apertures in the funnels for imping upon all sides of the materialto be cooled.

Preferably, the nozzles are equal-angularly spaced around the axis ofthe inner tube at intervals of between 60 and 120. The nozzles are alldirected forwardly and the axis of each nozzle may lie either in anaxial plane or may be inclined thereto at an angle of up to 20. Thecenter of the coolant jet issuing from each nozzle preferably lies at 60with respect to the axis of the inner tube and in any event is less thanIn one embodiment of the invention, the nozzles are inclined forwardlywith respect to the axis of the cooling assemblage in such a fashion asto produce low-trajectory jets lying at an angle of less than 90 to theaxis with each jet preferably lying in an axial plane. However, theplane containing the jet may be positioned at an angle of up to 20 withrespect to an axial plane and inclining the nozzles forwardly at such anangle assures that a greater leng'.h of material to be cooled receivescoolant from each nozzle.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become more readilyapparent to persons skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription and annexed drawing in which drawing the sole figure is afragmentary view in axial section of a double walled tubular assemblagefor cooling elongate material.

The double walled tubular assemblage denoted generally T comprises anouter tube 1 provided with an inlet 2 for a suitable coolant and aninner tube 3 coaxial with and spaced from the outer tube 1 and throughwhich wire to be cooled passes. It will be noted that a series ofsubstantially frusto-conical coaxial funnels 4 are located within theinner tube 3 and smaller ends 4a of the funnels all point in a forwarddirection as indicated by arrow A which of course is the direction inwhich the material to be cooled is passed through the tube 3. It willalso be noted that each funnel 4 in proximity to its larger end 4b isprovided with a radial aperture 5 and the funnels are fixed within theinner tube 3 in such a manner that adjacent apertures are displacedaround the axis of the tube by an angle of 90 which means that by thetime the material has passed four apertures it has received coolant onfour sides, as will later be described.

Short tubes 6 are sealed through the inner tube 3 and sleeves 7 holdingnozzles 8 are seated in the tubes 6. The axis of each nozzle 8 isdirected forwardly through an aperture 5. More specifically the axis ofeach nozzle 8 is inclined to the axis of the tube at an angle of lessthan 90 and preferably at an angle of 60. By virture thereof, anytendency of the coolant to build up is prevented. The notation forwarddirection is intended to include all directions having a component inthe axial direction.

As illustrated, the axis of each nozzle 8 and the coolant jet issuingtherefrom lies in an axial plane of the tube 3. The nozzles 8 also liein the shadow of the funnels so that the nozzles cannot be touched orcontacted by the material passingthrough the inner tube 3.

At one end of the tubular assemblage T there is provided an aperture cap9 and at the opposite end a flange 10. A guide ring 11 is locatedbetween the flange 10 and the larger end 4B of the first funnel 4. Itwill also be seen that the flange 10 is equipped with an entry funnel 12for the material to be cooled.

It will be readily appreciated that with the assistance of a doublewalled tubular assemblage above described, ma-

terial of a relatively large diameter can be cooled. In such situations,it is important to insure that only one nozzle directs its jet onto thematerial at one location so that each jet is not disturbed by any otherjet of coolant. Since the moving wire or other material receives thecoolant in a pulse-like manner on several sides (four in the drawing),it is possible to realize a heat balance. As compared with the knownarrangements, a higher heat gradient exists between the coolant and thesurface of the material to be cooled. As a result, of the staggeredarrangement of the nozzles 8 a compensating time is produced on theindividual walls.

It will be observed that the coolant is applied to several sides of thematerial and not merely to one side as has been true in the knownapparatus. The size of the smaller or outlet ends of the funnels 4 canbe adapted to any required flow rate for the coolant.

EXAMPLE A wire having a diameter of 20 mm. and a temperature of 1040 C.after its final rolling stage was passed at this temperature through aknown cooling tube provided with a perforated inner tube or wall. Thetemperature of the surface of the Wire after leaving the tube was 880 C.and upon reaching a wire cutter located 60 meters distance therefrom thetemperature was 930 C.

The same wire when cooled in a double walled tubular assemblage made inaccordance with this invention has a surface temperature of 740 C. uponleaving the assemblage and 750 C. upon arriving at the wire cutter.

In both situations, the speed of the wire was meters per second.

The applicants tubular assemblage had a length of four meters and wasprovided with 22 nozzles producing lowtrajectory jets and the opening ineach nozzle was 8 mm. The nozzles were spaced along the length of thetube and the angular displacement between jets was 90 with the axis ofeach nozzle intersecting the axis of the tube in the forward directionat 60. The nozzles were supplied with water at a pressure of 10atmospheres absolute and the water consumption was 160 m. /hour.

This invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity to theshowing in the drawings but changes or modifications may be made thereinso long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure fromthe spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A tubular assemblage for cooling elongate material such as hot wireby passing a wire in a forward direction axially through the tubularassemblage, comprising coaxial inner and outer tubes, means forintroducing a coolant under pressure into the space between the innerand outer tubes, nozzles sealed in said inner tube, said nozzlespointing in a forward direction and spaced both angularly andlongitudinally with respect to the axis of the inner tube, and aplurality of coaxial funnels mounted within said inner tube and throughwhich the material passes, each funnel having an aperture located arounda nozzle whereby the coolant can be ejected under pressure through thenozzles to pass forwardly through the apertures to impinge upon allsides of the material to be cooled.

2. The cooling tube as claimed in claim 1 in which said nozzles arespaced equi-angularly around the axis of the inner tube at intervals ofbetween and 3. The cooling tube as claimed in claim 1 in which the axisof each nozzle is directed forwardly and lies in an axial plane.

4. The cooling tube as claimed in claim 1 in which the axis of eachnozzle lies in a plane which is inclined to an axial plane at an anglenot exceeding 20.

5. The cooling tube as claimed in claim 1 in which each nozzle isforwardly directed at an angle of between 60 and 90 with respect to theaxis of the inner tube.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,339,373 9/1967 Mobius et a1. 1

ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner C. SUKALO, Assistant Examiner US. Cl.X.R.

